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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Makati mayor, 17 others suspended for misconduct
MANILA -- Malacañang on Tuesday placed the mayor of Manila's financial district and all members of the City Council under a 60-day preventive suspension pending investigation on alleged "ghost" City Hall employees.
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, an opposition stalwart who has irked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo by allowing opposition groups to stage protests against her, has been under investigation for allegedly keeping ghost employees on the city's payroll.
Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, designated Rodolfo Feraren, regional director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government for Metro Manila, as the officer-in-charge of Makati until President Arroyo designates a new set of temporary officials who will run the City Government while Binay and the 17 other officials are suspended.
Aside from Binay, also suspended were Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and councilors Erwin Jejomar Binay, Ferdinand Eusebio, Erlinda Gonzales, Ricardo Javier, Ricardo "Rico J" Puno, Monique Lagdameo, Romeo Medina, Ernesto Aspillaga, Israel Cruzado, Elias Tolentino, Divina Jacome, Romana Pangilinan, Nelson Pasia, Nemesio Yabut Jr., Rodolfo Sese, and Christine Mercado.
Interior Department Undersecretary Wencelito Andanar served the 60-day suspension order early Tuesday, but Binay refused to recognize it and remained in his office surrounded by supporters.
"My only fault here is being in the opposition," Binay told reporters. "I will not follow this illegal order. They might as well kill me here but I will never run away from this fight." He was dressed in army fatigues even though he does not hold any military position.
He said the charges against him were politically motivated and denied the allegations.
He said he had asked the Court of Appeals to issue a temporary restraining order even before the suspension was served in order to stay in his job. The court has yet to rule.
Riot police were deployed around the City Hall but later left after tensions subsided even though many protesters remained in front of City Hall.
The suspension of the city officials was based on the administrative complaint for grave misconduct, abuse of authority and conduct prejudicial to the public interest of the service filed by former Makati vice mayor Roberto Brillante of the Campaign for Public Accountability, who alleged that the 18 Makati City officials committed a "grand conspiracy" to collect salaries of over 600 "ghost employees" at the City Hall from January 1 to December 31, 2005 and over 500 "ghost workers" from January 1 to June 30, 2006.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita signed the suspension order of Binay and the other city officials.
According to Brillante's complaint, Binay and the other city officials collected the salaries of the "ghost employees" they had placed on the government payroll in 2005, and 585 others they had "hired" this year.
Puno, meanwhile, said under the 1987 Constitution, the President is empowered to appoint officers-in-charge to temporarily fill up the vacancies in the Makati City Council.
But Binay said the suspension against them was "irregular" and "illegal."
The Palace denied it is ganging up on members of the opposition.
Palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye explained that Binay's suspension was a "preventive" sanction aimed at expediting the investigations and had nothing to do with the determination of guilt or innocence.
"We are not making a ruling as to the guilt and innocence to the parties involved. This preventive suspension is part of a process to speed up the investigation," he said.
Former President Corazon Aquino, a close friend of Binay, visited him to show her support and hundreds of Binay followers were massing in the area to resist any attempt to remove the combative mayor.
Former President Joseph Estrada, along with members of the opposition in the House of Representatives, criticized the "blatant persecution of opposition leaders following the suspension order issued by Malacañang against Binay."
House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said the order to suspend Binay, along with all the members of the City Council, was "illegal, unlawful, baseless and blatant violation of the law and the due process." He also branded the suspension of the Makati City mayor as "selective prosecution."
At the Senate, Senator Francis Pangilinan urged the Arroyo administration to rethink its policy of clamping down on legitimate political dissent and exercise greater restraint in dealing with those critical of its policies and programs.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., for his part, expressed the same sentiment saying: "The suspension of Binay shows ruthless, schizophrenic, hypocritical President Arroyo prosecuting local government officials who are against her while coddling others supporting her. It's time to use all moves to check her abuses." (Sunnex)
(October 18, 2006 issue)
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